Malawi Police arrest Indian for assaulting worker at Al-Badar Hardware

A shop attendant working for Al-Badar Hardware in the city of Lilongwe is admitted at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) after being beaten severely by his Indian boss on Tuesday on suspicion that he stole some second hand trousers which they sell outside the hardware shop.

Charles Pukuta on his hospital bed – pic by LINA

Al-Badar Hardware closed business on Tuesday after the incident – pic by LINA

The shop attendant, Charles Pukuta, 28, speaking to Lilongwe News Agency (LINA) with difficulty from his hospital bed because of the pain, said he was tied up and beaten by his boss without questioning him at Biwi location in Lilongwe.

“The boss tied me up and started beating me without questioning, and later the boss was joined by his son, both beating me. It took about an hour beating me with sticks before police rescued me otherwise I don’t know what would have happened of me if police did not come,” explained Pukuta who has worked with the shop for three years and rose to the position of head shop attendant.

He said the trousers in question were found hidden behind the shop but no one knew who hid them there. It is said that Pukuta as head shop attendant was the prime suspect otherwise, it was claimed, he should have seen the culprit or noted the shortage.

Security guards working for neighbouring shops who witnessed the incident said that they could hear the beating from the shop and urged other Al-Badar shop attendants to shout for help if something fishy was happening inside their shop.

“The shop attendants did not do anything possibly afraid of dismissal till some people wanting to buy the second hand clothes alerted police who did not take time to come on the scene and intervened,” said one of the guards.

The guards continued saying that when the police brought the victim out of the shop, he couldn’t walk, sit himself or speak; his right hand had been broken. He was rushed to KCH by police as they bound the shop owner on his way to Lilongwe Police Station.

The security guards confided that soon after the arrest of Salim Ahammed,49, people who were buying the second hand clothes, especially women, declared the clothes free for all claiming that the Indians were beating one of their brothers as a reason. They said the women and other passers-by scrambled for the clothes and no worker at the hardware tried to stop them.

“On Tuesday morning, the employee who is a salesman at the shop went to work as usual, later during the day the shop owner started accusing the salesman of stealing and hiding clothes from the shop.

“The salesman denied the allegations but the shop owner was not convinced up to the extent of tying the employee with a rope and started hitting him with a wooden rod until he broke his right hand arm, said Dandaula.

He said Ahammed has been charged with grievous harm contrary to Section 238 of the Penal Code. He is expected to appear before court soon.

The Police identified the salesman as Charles Pukuta, 28, from Chakhoma village in the area of Traditional Authority Chiwalo in Phalombe district. – Additional reporting by Maston Kaiya, Mana

He who has the gold makes the rules, you guys calling yourselves “anthu ” aka a humans, implying that the rest who are not black are not Munthu are the ones who are racists! We have the money, your leaders get money from us, once we get hold of this economy, which will happen! You just watch! You are finished, you will have no say, if we are rats! You will be the coackroaches

Iam working with a number of Indians in a white man’s film,these people look at Africans as useless human beings and yet they are in Africa in millions exploiting our people,smuggling forex in billions and are the most racists creatures I have ever seen in my life.come abroad and see what your hard-earned money does in Britain,Canada and the USA.Indians are dangerous mosquitoes and the most corrupt in the World.They have neatly put our so-called leaders into their hands and there,they can do any damage to our resources and they will go scot-free.Some people say that a good Indian is that who is 6 feet deep.Eventhough I did not like what rogue Idd Amin did to fellow Ugandans,I gravely supported him when he chased these rats from Uganda.DZIKO WANU,NDALAMA WATHU.What arrogant these people are? We must show them that what is in Malawi belongs to Africans and they can go to HELL.If you want to see how they live in India,just visit outskirts of Bombay and in Pakistan,visit Karachi,you will not believe that human beings dwell there.Our Ndilande,Chilomoni,Chilobwe are much better to compare with their locations.You will find Indians,Chinese and Pakistans everywhere on earth.That proves their countries are unlovable.

Zakuba zinabedwa nad the Indian is also a human being.He feels the same pain just as blacks do.Koma mukanakhala inu wina ataba mukanamuotcha.Stupid inconsiderate Malawians!How many innocent suspects have you torched so far?

we are fed up with these stupid asians…..they must leave at once, why torturing the owner of the land like this? ufulu wathu tikaupeza kutiko, sizoona kumazunzika ndi anthu obwera…..ngati inu oona zamaufulu simuchitapo kanthu….ndithudi muzakatenga mtembo

As far as I know justice system in Malawi, this case will not go far. It will die a natural death because the Indian will palm- oil some potential guys handling the case. We have heard several cases of the same nature involving the Indians but how Indians are serving jail sentence? Almost none because they have money to palm oil some individuals prosecuting them.

This so bad,why should people behave like animals for the simple reason,they are bosses,employees or whatever. There are so many amicable solutions of sorting such kind of issues rather than cutting the whole someone’s future like that. Shame on every such a boss,Mr Dandaula do your job here

In your own country zoona? a Malawi sitikondana….osamponda bwanji? MUkuopa chani nanga bwanji iyeyo akutha mantha and yet this is not his country? Atibulidwe ameneyo asamatitenge cos we are poor and working for him. Mpaka kuthyola fupa? Aaaaaa yandiwawa

I have noted that most Malawians who work for foreigners especially Asians do not report atrocities committed against them for fear of losing their jobs. This is unfortunate. May I request Government or Parliament to enact a law or come up with a measure that would protect the victims by ensuring that they do not lose their jobs, get ill-treated or victimized in any way after reporting such crimes and even where the boss is convicted. The other way is to come up with very big compensation figures, say MK3,000,000.00 when it is court proven that the accused is guilty. The money would help the victim settle as he looks for another job.This may be another way of minimizing such barbaric acts. We cannot just sit and watch Malawians suffering silently in their own country. When a Malawian husband beats or harms a wife you arrest and sentence, when a Malawian boss harms a house servant you arrest and sentence but this is not applied to foreigners , why,

Shaaa! Charles Pukuta is from TA Chiwalo. Akangoimva nkhani imeneyi TA Chiwalo ndiye kuti mmwenye ameneyu wanya basi. My brother Salim Ahmed, I can bet, you are finished. You are gone. TA Chiwalo is a no nonsense TA and immediately he learns from Charles Pukuta’s relatives that you have done this evil to TA Chiwalo’s subject, you are gone. Mark my words.

I have noted that the arrest of foreigners (Indians, Chinese etc) enjoy publicity, which is good, however, Malawians are hardly told of the proceedings of their cases. There is always total news blackout on their CONVICTION and SENTENCING. We do not hear of any sentencing on the criminal offences committed such as this one. Can someone in the Judiciary please explain this or just give us statistics/information on any foreigner who is saving a prison term for committing a criminal offence? Otherwise we will be tempted to believe and conclude that that the Malawi Police, Courts or the top brass in Government personally benefit from such arrests. Do not undo the law for personal gains-let the law be applied impartially and PLEASE MALAWIANS, let us stand for JUSTICE- NGO’S, take note of this and help Malawians.